LAHORE: .
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the schedule of Pakistan’s home series against South Africa which will be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) later this year.

The Pakistan-South Africa series will be consisted of a Twenty20 International, five One-day Internationals and two Test matches.

Both countries will play two ODIs at Abu Dhabi on October 27 and 29 and the remaining three ODIs of the series will be held at Dubai on November 2, 5 and 8.

First Test between the two countries will be played from November 12 at the Dubai Sports City Stadium in Dubai and second Test will begin on November 20 at the Sheikh Zaid Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

The T20 International will be played at Abu Dhabi on November 27.

COLOMBO: The governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka is the island nation's third-most dishonest institution, the country's new sports minister said on Monday.


"The first and second are education and police. Sri Lanka Cricket is the third-most corrupt institution in the country," minister Chandrasiri Bandara Ratnayake told reporters in Colombo.

Currently run by an interim committee, Sri Lanka Cricket has been dogged by financial scandals. The minister said he will disclose the financial misdeeds in the coming weeks.

Ratnayake has promised to clean up Sri Lanka Cricket which has grown rich through lucrative television and sponsorship deals for the country's most popular sport.

The minister also added he would replace the current interim committee headed by former spinner Somchandra de Silva next week. There was no immediate comment from the committee members.

Ratnayake said he would appoint a new set of administrators to prepare for the cricket World Cup that Sri Lanka will co-host with India and Bangladesh in February-April. 
SRC:- Geo.Tv

 Hashim Amla continued in his rich vein of form, and struck his third One-day International hundred to help South Africa shake off 'dead-rubber syndrome', and win the fourth ODI against West Indies by seven wickets on Sunday.

Amla collected nine fours and two sixes in another sublime innings of 129 from 115 balls, as the South Africans, chasing 304 for victory from their allocation of 50 overs, reached their target from the very last ball in a thrilling finish at Windsor Park.

Amla reached his second hundred from 94 balls, when he guided a delivery from West Indies captain Chris Gayle, bowling his uncomplicated off-spin, to third man for three in the 30th over.

He shared 59 for the first wicket with the Proteas' captain Graeme Smith, 178 for the second wicket with Jacques Kallis, and 46 for the third wicket with A.B. deVilliers that anchored the visitors to victory.

"It was a great effort from us to chase over 300 runs, and we have to look at the positives from this performance," said Smith.

"Hashim's knock was an incredible innings, and the rest of the guys batted around him very, very well. But I think he must take the credit for a great run chase.

"We would have loved to have finished the game more comfortably in the last over, and maybe we got a bit conservative there in the end. But we successfully chased over 300 on a second game pitch, and we are happy."

When Amla was dismissed, South Africa needed 80 from 76 balls, and J.P. 

Duminy joined deVilliers to carry them the rest of the way in an unbroken stand of 80 for the fourth wicket. 

In a dramatic finish however, the South Africans needed one run from the last delivery, following a sensational final over from Dwayne Bravo in which he conceded a single to deVilliers off the first ball, a leg bye to Duminy from the next, and then bowled three dot-balls.

DeVilliers however, formalised the result, when he swung the final delivery through mid-wicket, where Darren Sammy fumbled it, and then missed a throw at the bowler's end, as the batsman scrambled to make his ground.

The victory handed the Proteas a 4-0 lead in the five-match series, after they won the rain-marred opening match by 66 runs, under the Duckworth-Lewis Method, two Saturdays ago at the Vivian Richards Cricket Ground in Antigua, where they also won the second ODI by 17 runs last Monday, and the third ODI by 67 runs last Friday at this venue.

The series concludes this coming Thursday at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad & Tobago, where the visitors will be chasing a second successive ODI series sweep in the Caribbean.

Gayle was obviously, very disappointed by the result, although it came down to the very last ball of the match.

"Credit must go to Bravo for the way he bowled the final over," he said.
"But to get 300 runs, and lose was not good. 
"We should have scored at least 30 or 40 more runs based on the start that Dale [Richards] and I gave the team, but we were very disappointing in the middle overs again, too many dot balls."
He added: "But South Africa are in good batting form right now, and they took the game away from us. We also missed a few catches, and this is the inconsistency. At times, we do well with the bat, and then turn up and do something completely different with the ball. 

"I am very disappointed, and feel heartbroken for our fans, who turned up in their numbers for this match."

  Src:-Geo.tv

KARACHI: After taking over the reins of the Pakistan team in all the three formats, Shahid Afridi indicated that he is determined to root out politics from the side and will not shy away from sacking the spoilers. 


“I am not going to tolerate any politics in the team and anyone who tries to spoil the dressing room environment will find himself out of the team,” Afridi said. “As captain my task is simple; I want every player to contribute positively to the team and I am not going to tolerate any negative vibes in the team.” 

The spin all-rounder will lead Pakistan in the upcoming Asia Cup and the full England tour. They will play six Tests in the English summer against Australia and England between July and September. 

A recent PCB enquiry committee’s probe into the team’s poor show in Australia highlighted the differences and ego problems among senior players and the politics in the team. 

Afridi said the team, if united, had the potential to do well in all formats of the game. 

After making it clear that he wants Mohammad Yousuf to shun retirement and re-join the Test team, Afridi also felt that the team would also need Younis in England. 

“Younis’ presence is important for us because of the tough conditions in England. We need a senior person like him around to guide the youngsters as well. I hope he is selected for the England tour,” he said. 

Afridi, who has come out of a self-imposed exile from Test cricket to make himself available for Pakistan said, he had accepted the challenge of captaincy because he wanted to the team to leave controversies behind and do well. 

“To be honest I was not mentally prepared for a comeback to Test matches but I changed my mind after giving it much thought. I know going back to Test cricket after nearly four years is going to be difficult but I have always enjoyed such challenges in my career,” he stated. 

Meanwhile, sources said on Friday that Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi is not too keen to have Shoaib Malik back in the side as he fears that the all-rounder would create disharmony in the side. 

”There are others as well including some selectors and board officials who feel that it would be better for the team if Malik is kept out for the moment,” one source close to PCB disclosed on Friday. 

He said Afridi did not push for Malik’s inclusion like he did for Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. “Afridi’s reaction is natural considering that he knows well that Malik can be a very negative influence on the team,” the source said. 

Malik emerged as the main villain during the probe by the Pakistan Cricket Board into the troubled Australian tour last year with former coach, Intikhab Alam, Afridi, Younis, Yousuf and others blaming him for spoiling the team atmosphere. 

Former manager Abdul Raquib, Intikhab and Yousuf openly blamed him for creating disharmony in the team. 

During the inquiry committee hearings, the team officials also confirmed that they wanted to send Malik back from New Zealand but the then skipper Yousuf let him stay as the team needed his experience. 

Malik, who recently got married to Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, was banned for 12-months and fined Rs two million by the inquiry committee but he has appealed against the punishment. 

In his defence, Malik has said that he had no cause to create disharmony in the team as he was no longer interested in the captaincy and only wanted to represent the country as a player.—Agencies

Ban on Malik lifted, fine reduced to Rs1 million LAHORE: The appellate tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) while lifting one-year ban on former captain Shoaib Malik has reduced the fine from Rs2 million to Rs1 million while hearing on Younis Khan’s appeal was adjourned until June 5.

The one-man PCB tribunal of Justice retired Irfan Qadir heard the appeal by Shoaib Malik here at the National Cricket Academy.

Later, Justice ( R ) Irfan Qadir told media that ban imposed by the PCB on Shoaib Malik on March 16 has been lifted while his fine has also been reduced from Rs2 million to Rs1 million.

Now, Shoaib Malik is available to play in next month's Asia Cup and tour of England.

Earlier this year, the PCB banned Malik from the national squad for one year and fined him two million rupees for breaches of discipline while on tour.

The PCB also punished six other players who took part in the tours of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand and Australia, particularly after Pakistan lost all three Tests and five one-day games in Australia in December-January.

The punishments were referred to a retired judge for review, with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt telling a parliamentary committee last week that his board would accept any of the judge's findings.

Along with Malik, allrounder Rana Naved-ul was also banned for one year and fined two million rupees. Former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were banned for indefinite periods, while Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi and Umar Akmal were fined heavily.

Younis's appeal was also heard on Saturday but after arguments between the tribunal and Younis's lawyer Ahmed Malik Qayyum, the hearing was adjourned until June 9.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Younis Khan blamed that the hearing was not allowed before media and severe punishment is being made to his client.

PCB legal adviser told that the appellate tribunal has adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period on request from Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal.
Src:- Geo.Tv 

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's captain for the Asia Cup and the tour of England, has stepped up efforts to convince Mohammad Yousuf to come out of retirement and bolster the side's potentially tough Test assignment in England, where they face off against the hosts and Australia.


"I've talked to Yousuf and I've also talked to a few elders, who can influence him to come out of retirement for the sake of Pakistan," Afridi told the News. "I am sure that he would listen to them and change his mind about retiring from international cricket. We will certainly need his services in England."

Yousuf announced his retirement from the game following the ban issued by the PCB after Pakistan's unsuccessful tour of Australia. Of the seven punished players, he was the only one to not file a formal appeal against the punishments imposed. On Tuesday, Pakistan announced the 35-member list of probables for the two upcoming tours. Five of the punished players, including Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik who are currently serving bans that are due to be reviewed, were included in the long list, but Yousuf was not considered.

The England tour begins in end-June, and Afridi is confident that there is enough time for Yousuf to prepare for the tour even if he is included in the eleventh hour. "Yousuf is a great batsman and I'm sure that even if he just plays in a couple of warm-up matches before the Test series, he will be ready for the tough assignment. He won't need much time to get ready for the tour."

Yousuf confirmed that Afridi has been in discussions with him over a possible comeback. "Yes Afridi called me up and we spoke at length about the cricket scenario. I told him I took the decision to retire after seeking advice from my elders and I can only take back the retirement decision if my elders give me permission to do this," Yousuf said.

Since embracing Islam, Yousuf has sought out religious elders during his trips to Raiwind and on preaching missions. He is known to follow their advice before making important decisions.

Umar Gul is unlikely to be part of Pakistan's Asia Cup campaign in Sri Lanka as a result of a lingering shoulder injury. He should, however, be fit in time for the tour to England later this summer. Gul injured his right shoulder when he fell awkwardly during a training camp for the World Twenty20 and subsequently missed the tournament.

Though the shoulder has gotten better, doctors have advised him not to risk it so soon and instead aim to be back for the longer, arguably more important England tour later, where Pakistan meet Australia as well. "I had an MRI done on it a few days back and compared to the first one I had immediately after the injury, the shoulder has 80-90% healed," Gul told Cricinfo.

"But the doctor has advised me not to take a chance at the Asia Cup because I might aggravate a healing injury," he said. "I have been resting completely since the injury and haven't bowled, so getting match fit and then bowling will take some time to get back to my full sharpness."

The Asia Cup is due to begin from June 15 in Dambulla. The PCB have announced a list of 35 probables for the two assignments of the summer in which Gul's name has been included. A short training camp will be held in Karachi in the first week of June after which a 15-man squad will be announced for the Asia Cup. Gul might still be a part of the training camp so he can start working with the team trainer David Dwyer and the team's physiotherapist again.

"I am trying to find out whether it is ok for me to attend the camp because I can at least start training with David and other members of the fitness team," Gul said.

Though his form has dipped in the last year, Gul remains a key part of Pakistan's pace attack in all three formats of the game. He remains at his most lethal in the shorter forms of the game, but it was his comeback on the England tour in 2006 that sparked the most productive phase of his Test career. And in a summer where Pakistan will be heavily reliant on their pace attack, Gul's presence and experience will be vital alongside Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif.

Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's new Test captain, knows how important it is for Gul to be right in time for a tour which takes in six Tests, five ODIs and four T20Is. "Gul is one of our key players and we want him to get fit as soon as possible," Afridi told the News. "It's unfortunate that he is unlikely to play in the Asia Cup but I'm sure that he will be fully fit for the tour of England. I've told him that he should take his time to recover from the injury because we want him to be fully fit for the matches against Australia and England."

The England tour begins on June 28.

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo

 Feeds: Osman Samiuddin

MUMBAI: Indian actress Dia Mirza has vehemently denied a report that the ex-beauty queen and actress would tie the knot with Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar. The actress said that the news, carried by Pakistani news channels, is utter rubbish and baseless. In a chat with an Indian TV channel, she said, “The news of my wedding with Shoaib Akhtar is absolutely rubbish. It’s a figment of imagination.” Dia requested the media to make it known that she had nothing to do with Akhtar and she doesn’t even know him. When asked about her marriage plans, the actress said, “I would like to get married and everybody will know it. As of now, I am not getting married to anyone.”







LAHORE: Cricketer Mohammed Asif and Actress Veen Malik had tied the knot in London last year, citing the sources ARY News reported on Tuesday. According to sources, a Bengali Nikahkhwan had performed Nikah of the couple in East London last year in May and their common friend Zahid Saif was one of the witnesses of Nikah. It is recalled that Zahid Saif had mediated to settle financial dispute betwen them recently. Asif and Veena had agreed to keep their nikah secret. According to reports, the nikah of the couple was not registered in Pakistan and Veena wanted registration of nikah here but Asif has been against it. Meanwhile, Zahid Saif has also confirmed that they were living as a couple. Mohammed Asif in a statement has denied the report, while Veena Malik has refused to confirm or reject the report.
 

ISLAMABAD: Shahid Afridi was selected as Pakistan captain on Tuesday for the Asia Cup and test series against Australia and England.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt made the announcement in Lahore confirming Afridi as the country's third test captain in 15 months after Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were indefinitely suspended by the PCB due to alleged infighting.

However, the selection committee also included Younis in a list of 35 probable players, subject to his pending appeal against the suspension.

After his indefinite ban, Yousuf retired from international cricket. Afridi said he tried unsuccessfully to persuade Yousuf to come out of retirement.

''I talked to him on telephone yesterday and requested him to reconsider his retirement, but he refused to do so,'' said Afridi, who added that Yousuf was now coaching in Canada. ''I still believe Yousuf can play international cricket for two to three more years.''

Afridi has not played a test since taking on England at Manchester in 2006, and is looking forward to making a contribution.

''I have taken up this as a challenge because I feel Pakistan is going through some tough times now and it needs the guidance of senior players,'' he said. ''If we play as a unit, I am hopeful of good results.

''Definitely, there will be the pressure of captaincy on me, but a player can only be judged when he competes under pressure.''

Pakistan is scheduled to play the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka in June before playing two tests against Australia in England in July and four tests against England.

Former captain Shoaib Malik, who was also suspended for one year and fined two million rupees ($23,500) for ill discipline during the series in Australia, was included in the 35 players.

''Both Younis and Malik's inclusions are subject to their outcome of the appeals,'' Butt said.

Selectors picked injury-prone fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar among the 35, but chief selector Mohsin Khan said the players will all have to pass fitness tests before they are picked in the final squads.

The 15-member squad for the Asia Cup will be announcd in the first week of next month after a short training camp at Karachi.

Probables:
Shahid Afridi (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hasan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hasan Raza, Azhar Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamir Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Tanveer Ahmed, Ejaz Cheema, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider.

LAHORE: The prospects of Muhammed Yousuf’s comeback in international cricket has become brighter as a result of Pakistan cricket team captain Shahid Afridi, Geo News reported Wednesday.

It is expected that Yousuf will take back his decision regarding retirement.

According to sources, Afridi a day earlier contacted Yousuf and talked to his friends as well.

Shahid Afridi said Yousuf’s elders assured that Yousuf would review his decision on retirement.

The new captain Afridi said he wanted Muhammed Yousuf to be part of the Pak squad during England series.

Meantime, middle order batsman Muhammed Yousuf said he made up his mind on retirement at the behest of his elders, adding, ‘If they want me to withdraw the decision, I may make a comeback in the cricket world.’
Src:Geo.Tv

Facebook and YouTube Banned in Pakistan For Promoting “Draw Mohammad Day” !!

Never expected a leading social networking website like Facebook and a video casting blog like YouTube will take such immature steps in promoting anti-religion activities. Just few days ago a group at Facebook was formed called "Draw Mohammed Day" (i.e 20th May). The group encouraged a "contest" of drawing caricatures of Prophet Mohammed(PBUH). This group again outraged the Muslims worldwide and countries Like Pakistan have temporarily banned both Facebook and YouTube till 31st May. Upon the orders of Lahore High court the Pakistani Telecom Authority (PTA) immediately put a ban on these two websites. They have also banned browsing in in cell phones like black berry. On the other hand both Facebook and YouTube are facing major threats in terms of revenue, traffic and security. Servers of Facebook are continuously under threat by hackers from every corner of the world. Reports from several sources have proven that some Turkish hackers have badly damaged the Facebook servers and especially the page “Draw Mohammad Day”

What’s New?

Today I have chosen such a topic because it is relevant to the category “Social Media” There are many important things that we will learn today. I am writing this post not because I am a Muslim who is outraged but as a Blogger who always promises to discuss what is important. In today’s tutorial we will learn many things that will help you in taking good decisions when dealing a crowd in millions. For you as bloggers understanding your readers and their behavior must be among your first priorities.

How will “Draw Mohammad Day” effect Facebook’s reputation?

Just imagine a website with PageRank 10, Alexa Rank 2.0 and with millions of unique visitors per day has lost its reputation in the eyes of approximately 47% of its traffic. There are 1.57 billion Followers of the religion ISLAM worldwide. The second largest religion in the world. If we assume that only 50% of this population use social networks like Facebook then the traffic that Facebook receives from countries like Middle East, USA, North Africa, Asia will mount up to 785, 000, 000 visitors per day!!

I received many text messages and emails where Facebook’s revenue statistics were shared but most of them were almost difficult to be trusted when put to logic. I decided to do a simple calculation and tried my best to come as closer as possible to the daily, monthly and yearly revenue that Facebook generates from its Muslim visitors. Below I have shared a table where all data is my mere deduction and observation and slight research. Hope it will clarify many things.


FaceBook’s Estimated Revenue Chart 2010

(Earning through Muslim Visitors Only)
REGION MUSLIM POPULATION INTERNET USERS DAILY REVENUE ($) MONTHLY REVENUE($) YEARLY REVENUE ($)
Worldwide 1.57 Billion 785 Million (estd.) 7.85 Million 235.5 Million 2.826 Billion!!!!
Pakistan 180 Million 47 Million 47,000 1.41 Million 16.92 Million!!
Lets analyze the above table now:



 

World Wide Facebook Revenue Analysis 


I found it through Wikipedia that the over all population of Muslims in the world is 1.57 billion. Then I estimated that what will be the daily revenue earned by Facebook from Muslim visitors if suppose just 50% of this population use Internet (i.e 785 Million). For this I took 0.01$ as average cost received by Facebook for Pay Per Click(PPC) and Page Impressions. This has logic like advertisements in Facebook that are based on Life Insurance, Technology, Cell phones, Digital Camera’s by Sony and Canon, College and University and renown services and goods can pay up to 7-$25 for each click made by the user.

Note:- I took all amounts as minimum as possible while in fact Pay per click can mount up to $7-$75. Adword Keyword Tool by Google can be used to compare Adsense Paying scheme to that of Facebook’s

And of course not every visitor will click the ads so surely Facebook is not earning $7 or $25 from each and every visitor. Some ads can be as cheap as 0.001$ (PPC). So if we take $0.01 as an average for PPC then it is not a bad approximate. I multiplied 785 Million visitors by 0.001 to derive 7.85 Million US Dollars and this is the amount Facebook earns daily from all Muslim Visitors put together. Then Monthly and yearly amounts in the table were calculated by multiplying the daily income by 30 and 12 respectively. The yearly amount that come up is 2.826 Billion US Dollars! And this is what I approximated as annual income earned by FaceBook from the Muslim Nation.

But can you just guess how much is Facebook earning yearly from all traffic put together? The answer is 15 Billion US dollars!! (Source –> Times Online ) So 2.826 Billion US Dollars from 1/3rd majority of the world is again not a bad approximation. In fact the earning from Muslim Nation can be far far greater than $2.826 Billion but this is calculated as minimum as possible for better assumption of FB’s revenue.

Pakistan’s Facebook Revenue Analysis


For Pakistan I adopted a more correct approach. From many sources I found out the 47 Million people in this country use Internet. Since most of the visitors here are usually normal surfers and browse more for fun so I estimated the average Pay Per Click to be as less as $0.001 i.e Ten times less than the International Muslim Internet Users. By doing the same calculation I came to an annual amount of 16.92 Million US Dollars! which again is a big amount but not as big as 15 Billion US Dollars! Since Pakistan has banned Facebook till May 31st, we can easily calculate that the average revenue loss to Facebook can go up to 564,000 US Dollars and of course this amount is no less than a peanut to Facebook’s Overall Daily revenue!
 


In what Possible ways can Facebook badly suffer?

If a developing country like Pakistan is causing just a loss of 664,000 US Dollars to Facebook which is almost negligible loss in the eyes of the Mega Social Media Giant then how come this bring a nightmare to Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook's 23-year-old chief executive). Well the story doesn’t just end here. Below I have shared some of the points which can badly effect Facebook’s reputation in Internet if you see them in long term and with a more broader approach.

Advertisement on any website depends on many factors like Number of Daily Unique visitors, Pageviews, PageRank and Alexa Rank.

There are a lot of Muslim Web masters and if they all start a campaign of removing the Facebook links from their websites or tagging them as nofollow then this can turn out to be a disaster for FB’s Search Engine Optimization(SEO) department. The PageRank 10 that Facebook has achieved after shedding a lot of sweat and tears can decrease to 7-8 with-in a month or two if web owners do start such a campaign.
Pakistani Nation Banned FaceBook till 31st May only and authorities at Pakistan have promised that they will discuss this act of FB in OIC and UNO too and if other Muslim Nations do agree to ban Facebook in their respective countries then advertisements from these Muslim countries will seize up!
If Facebook is banned in Middle East then this can cause a lose of approximately 1.1 Billion US dollars to Facebook because most of the ongoing world investment is done in UAE, Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf.
Muslim visitors can remove their Alexa toolbar which can dramatically reduce FB’s Alexa ranking which is the second most significant ranking in terms of attracting advertisers after Google PageRank.
Further The company’s security can highly be threatened from Muslim hackers all over the world. Since past records have shown that Facebook has been abused and attacked several times and today under such crucial period the risk of hack attacks are even larger. If Chinese Hackers can hack Pentagon’s highly secure computers then why not Facebook?
In a nutshell if Facebook does not make quick and mature decisions in the coming days then from what we have deduced so far it can clearly be seen that it wont take long for this Giant Social Media Website to crumble to its knees and loose all advertisements, loyal visitors and customers.

Moral:-

“If Mark has read this post then I am sure his mind would have blown off!”

What are your views?

The publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammad (PBUH) has always hurt the sentiments of the 1.57 billion Muslims all over the world. Muslims believe in Prophet Mohammad as the last and final Prophet after the decent of Prophet Adam, Solomon, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (Peace Be Upon Them All). Depiction of the images of a Prophet is strictly prohibited in Islam and is considered as blasphemy. In Islam After Allah (God) Mohammad (PBUH) is considered as the highest authority and they consider him as a master, guider, preacher and love them more than their family. Do you think freedom of speech and expression means that you can humiliate even such scholars and personalities of highest eminent?

I request all my loyal readers and visitors to post their views and comments about this latest happening and about the stats and info shared in today’s article. Kindly also cast your votes below and let us all know what you think. God bless you all!

Pakistani Protesters Rally Against Facebook

Members of hardline Islamic parties held rallies throughout Pakistan on Friday to protest caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on the social networking website Facebook

Demonstrators shouted anti-American slogans and burned U.S., Danish and Swedish flags as they took to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore and the southern port city of Karachi.

The Pakistani Telecommunications Authority has banned access to Facebook, Youtube and more than 450 links containing “sacrilegious” content and derogatory material.

Facebook is blocked until May 31 because it carries a controversial page that encourages users to draw the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H).

The social networking site says it is considering whether to make the offending page inaccessible in Pakistan.

Most Muslims consider any image of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) to be blasphemous.

The CEO of Pakistani Internet service provider Nayatel, Wahaj-us-Siraj, told VOA on Thursday that the government will reopen access to the sites once Facebook and YouTube remove the controversial material.

Pakistan temporarily blocked YouTube in 2008 because a movie trailer on the site portrayed the Muslim holy text, the Koran, as a fascist book.

Angry protests swept across Muslim countries in 2005 and 2006 after a Danish newspaper printed several caricatures of Muhammad (P.B.U.H).

WASHINGTON: Facebook is disappointed because of blocked in Pakistan
“We are very disappointed with the Pakistani courts’ decision to block Facebook without warning, and suspect our users there feel the same way,” Facebook said in a statement to French news agency.
“We are analyzing the situation and the legal considerations, and will take appropriate action, which may include making this content inaccessible to users in Pakistan,” it said.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked Facebook over a competition encouraging its users to post caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on the social networking site.
However, the court ordered complete ban till May 31 2010.

 

Leaked video reveals player calling Shoaib Malik as negative influence
A video that was recorded during the investigative probe around why Pakistan lost all their games in Australia, has been leaked and found its way to a Pakistani TV channel. The video reveals the kind of discontentment that there was in the Pakistan team on the tour.
Shoaib Malik has been accused of being a negative influence and also by a committee member as a "termite". That is not all, as some of the former cricketers and those who played on that tour have accused him of anything between backbiting against players to politicking and causing rifts within the team.
The Pakistan board had earlier taken action against some of its players including Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Malik, Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers.

Former coach Intikhab Alam, who was a part of the management on that tour said, "Malik is a negative person and he creates problems. I wanted him to be sent back home. Intikhab also added that Malik had first agreed to bat up the order but at the last moment pulled away. Alam also said that looking at the green pitch in one of the Test matches, Malik decided to sit out of the game.
Mohammad Yousuf, who has had a long standing feud with Shoaib Malik has also said that Malik's appointment as the captain of the side in 2007 was a huge blunder. He said, "Former chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf made a big blunder and hurt Pakistan cricket when he appointed Malik captain in 2007 when his place in the side was also not confirmed,"
Even Shahid Afridi accused him of being a back-biter and is shown to be telling the committee that he told the former captain that he will not continue to play in the team if he continued to do what he was doing. He also said that that he had told Malik that if Afridi was made the captain, he will not have Malik in the side.
Intikhab also questioned the players' education levels and upbringing, their mental aptitude and has called them mentally retarded!
Naved-ul-Hasan Rana, who was one of the players banned for one year also speaks of how the players were not happy with Younis Khan appointment as the captain and was a part of the group that wanted him removed.
It is said that more videos will come out in the days to come.

BEIJING – A video that appears to show police fatally beating a Tibetanprotester was a fake concocted by supporters of the Dalai Lama, China said Tuesday — the same day the video-sharing network YouTube said its service had been blocked in China.

The video has been posted on YouTube in recent days.

A spokesman for Google, which owns YouTube, said he couldn’t comment on the Chinese government’s reason for the block.

“We are looking into it and working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible,” spokesman Scott Rubin said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

China occasionally blocks YouTube to prevent access to videos that criticize or shine an unflattering light on its policies.

The official Xinhua News Agency, citing an unidentified official with China’s Tibetan regional government, reported Tuesday that the video came from sources tied to the government-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and was pieced together from different places.

The Xinhua report said the footage purported to show a person named Tendar being beaten to death by police after a riot in Lhasa, the Tibet region’s capital, on March 14 last year. Xinhua said the person was not in fact Tendar and the wounds shown were fake.

“The Dalai Lama group is used to fabricating lies to deceive the international community and the aim of this video is to hide the truth of the March 14th riot,” Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

The government did not directly address whether YouTube had been blocked. When asked, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters: “Many people have a false impression that the Chinese government fears the Internet. In fact it is just the opposite.”

Users in Beijing said they were unable to access the site late Tuesday.
Security in China’s Tibetan areas has been tightened in recent weeks because of sensitive anniversaries this month. March 14 marked the one-year anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet’s regional capital, while March 17 marked 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after Chinese troops crushed a Tibetan uprising.


 




On Monday, traffic from China to YouTube began dwindling until it dried up nearly completely today, due to a site-wide block of the popular video sharing site in that country.

Google says it has no idea why it’s being blocked. China has demonstrated the ability to block access only to certain YouTube URLs as part of its ongoing censorship of the internet, so this site-wide ban represents a significant change in strategy.

“We do not know the reason for the blockage,” a Google spokesman told Wired.com, “and we’re working as quickly as possible to restore access to our users in China.” However, he did not specify what those steps might be.

It’s possible that one of the thousands of workers responsible for censoring the internet in China was overzealous in blocking the entire site instead of individual videos. Or perhaps something on YouTube made the Chinese government more upset than previous YouTube videos had done. Either way, all of YouTube is now blocked in China.

Some speculate that officials could be upset about footage of Chinese soldiers beating Tibetans appearing on the site.


Another possible reason for the blockade is the US Navy’s recent release of videos depicting five Chinese ships apparently trying to snag a Sonar array cable trailing behind the USNS Impeccable, which appearedon YouTube. The U.S. Navy’s official version of events, issued March 8, was that “Impeccable was conducting routine survey operations in international waters 75 miles south of Hainan Island when it was harassed by five Chinese vessels.” The Chinese disagreed on March 13: “The story of the U.S. side is totally untrue and unacceptable.”

Whatever the reason, Chinese citizens no longer have access to any of the videos of YouTube. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters on Tuesday, “China’s internet is open enough, but also needs to be regulated by law in order to prevent the spread of harmful information and for national security.”

Apparently, that “harmful information” includes laughing Wii baby, Chocolate Rain, our SXSW video coverage, and everything else on YouTube.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt said that the selection committee will meet on May 25 to short list 30 players for the Asia Cup and the tour of England. The captain will be named same day.

He said that no decision has so far been made regarding the appointment of the captain.

The Asia Cup will be held from June 15 in Sri Lanka where Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will participate in the event.

After the Asia Cup, Pakistan team will go to England where it will play a series first against Australia and then against England.

LAHORE: Shahid Afridi is likely to be appointed captain of the national cricket team for the Asia Cup.

Sources said that the formal announcement in this regard would be made next week.

According to the sources, Shahid Afridi has also agreed to play Test matches in England.

KARACHI: Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has threatened to sue former Pakistan coaches Intikhab Alam and Aaqib Javed for defamation unless they apologise for suggesting his performance in Australia may have been linked to bookmakers.

Akmal said on Saturday Alam and Javed should substantiate their allegations or make a public apology to him.

“I am fed up with these allegations. My family is disturbed. I go out and people hoot me and I am mentally disturbed. I want to clear this unwarranted stigma with my name,” he told Reuters.

“I want an apology from these people. I will be speaking to the chairman of the board about this as they are employees of the board. If they don't apologise I intend to go to court in my personal capacity.”

The pair's statements caused an uproar in Pakistan when video recordings of the inquiry committee proceedings were leaked to a television channel this week.

“The point is (if) these people suspected me of deliberately under-performing why did they keep on selecting me for other matches?” Akmal said.

Akmal said it was about time someone took action against people making baseless allegations of match-fixing or the ordeal for Pakistani players would never end.

Alam and Javed were removed as team coaches after the Australian tour but given top positions in the national cricket academy by the board.

Updated at: 2333 PST, Saturday, May 22, 2010

LAHORE: Rejecting charges of match fixing labelled against him, wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal has said that he has always given his best while playing for the country.

"I have always worked hard for Pakistan and will play for the country. No one has the right to disgrace my nation. I feel bad for my parents, who watch the news like everyone else," Akmal said.

"I have told the Pakistan Cricket Board whatever I had to and I am sure that the board will look into it," he added.

Akmal, who has been accused of match fixing by former team officials, including coach Intikhab Alam, said he wants to prove all allegations being labelled against him wrong through his performance during this winter's tour of Australia.
Source Geo.Tv

You can see in above screenshot in search no group found,The Management of facebook now banned “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” Group,But its too late becuase they ban after event had celebrated the whole day 20th May 2010.

Every one know “Every body Draw Mohammed Day” is an group in which Jews and non- muslims are going to draw a sketch of Hazrat Muhammad PBUH(naozubillah).The Event was held on 20th Of May 2010.The Event is created on Facebook and more than 85,000 People have joined it.
In Pakistan the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked Facebook over a competition encouraging its users to post caricatures of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on the social networking site.However, the court ordered complete ban till May 31 2010.But we want to banned Permanently.

Asia Cup 2010 played in Sri Lanka. Find the information about fixtures and schedule of 10th cricket Asia Cup 2010. Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh participate in Asia Cup 2010 in Srilanka. Asian Cricket Council has announced the schedule of 2010 Asia Cup, which will be held in the month of June. As per the Asian Cricket Council, seven ODIs will be played between June 15 and 25 in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is defending champion of Asia cup. Sri Lanka won last Asia Cup in 2009 by defeating India in Pakistan. Asia cup 2010 will be the 10th Asia Cup tournament. Asia cup is conducted by Asian Cricket Council (ACC) every year.

Next year’s tournament will run from the 15th to the 25th of June, and will be the 10th edition of the Asia Cup. Sri Lanka are the current holders of the trophy, after beating India in the final in June 2008. Both teams have won the tournament four times, the first edition of which was held in 1984 in Sharjah.

Asia Cup Cricket 2010 kicks off from 15 June in Sri Lanka. Four test playing countries from Asia: Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh- will take part in the tournament. Though the tournament is named Asia Cup, all the participating teams are particularly from South Asia. Asia Cup 2010 will be the 10th edition of the tournament since its inception in 1984.
Schedule of Asia Cup 2010:

Date Competing Teams Time Venue
June 15
Mon

Sri Lanka vs Pakistan GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 16
Mon

Bangladesh vs India GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 18
Mon

Sri Lanka vs Bangladesh GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 19
Mon

India vs Pakistan GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 21
Mon

Bangladesh vs Pakistan GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 22
Mon

Sri Lanka vs India GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30

Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
June 24
Mon

Final
(TBC vs TBC)

GMT 09:00;
Local 14:30
Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium
Four teams will play against each other once in a round robin league system. Two teams in terms of highest points achieved would progress to the final which is scheduled to take place on 24 June. All the matches of the tournament will be day-night and held at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Dambulla, Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is the defending champion for the 2 tournaments now, and another success this year will make it a hat-trick of Asia Cup title. India and Sri Lanka both won the tournament on 4 occasions each, and thus, becoming the most successful teams in Asia Cup.

Pakistan’s only success in Asia Cup came in 1986 when Sri Lanka hosted the tournament for the first time. Sri Lanka already has the experience of organizing Asia Cup for 3 times, highest in the tournament.

This year, Sri Lanka would like to retain the title by capitalizing on their home advantage. Their recent form in ODI is pretty much satisfactory. They won the tri-nation series in Bangladesh earlier this year defeating India in the final. Sri Lanka also reached the semi final of the twenty20 world cup 2010.

India’s recent form may not be that great, but the ‘men in blue’ would try to win the tournament this year. Though India was the losing finalists of the lat 2 tournaments, they could not win the Asia Cup title since 1995.

Pakistan’s recent form in ODI is disappointing. They were whitewashed by Australia in a 5-match ODI series earlier this year. Moreover, they failed to defend their twenty20 world cup title recently.

Bangladesh would start the tournament with underdog’s tag. They lost to New Zealand and England in the ODI series this year, and their twenty20 world cup performance was not satisfactory either. However, they will be looking to cause upsets, and if possible a place in the Asia Cup 2010 final.

Molly Norris says An “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” page quickly turned up on Facebook but Norris, writing on her website at mollynorris.com, said she had nothing to do with it,She says in his website:

I did NOT ‘declare’ May 20 to be “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.” I made a cartoon about the television show South Park being censored. (I wish that was what our energies were going toward — protesting revolutionmuslim.com’s threat to Comedy Central, and Comedy Central’s over reaction to it which set America on a slippery slope toward censorship!)
At any rate, my satirical poster, with a fake ‘group’ behind it (Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor) was taken seriously, hijacked and made viral.
I never started a facebook page; I never set up any place for pepole to send drawings to and I never received any drawings (I see that two European graduate students and another woman started the facebook pages).
My one-off cartoon does not work well as a long-term plan. The vitriol this ‘day’ has brought out, of people who only want to draw obscene images, is offensive to Muslims who did nothing to endanger our right to expression in the first place. Only Viacom and Revolution Muslim are to blame, so…draw them instead!
I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this ‘day’ be called off.
Thank you to those who are turning this crazy thing into an opportunity for dialogue.
Oh, and screw all of you who are mad at me for not leading a ‘movement’. My cartoon was the beginning and end of what I had to say about this creepy, historic censorship. (By the way, where is Cowardly Central now? Pretty dang quiet. Guess they can dish it out but can’t take it.)
Source:www.mollynorris.com

England Wins the ICC T20 World Cup 2010

Yes! Finally the English Team has won the world Cup. It took 35 Years and 18 attempts to get this far. No other team has taken it thus far. Even Sri Lanka, (a team considered to be minnows like Bangladesh is now in 1979 WC) won their first World cup in 17 Years and just their 5th attempt. Therefore this has got to be the longest test that any national fan could have for a team. The fact

that it has come on the brink of so many South Africans playing for England should not take any sheen out of the triumph. After all they did undergo the normal process to get this far.

The tournament itself was the most clinical triumph seen from a a cricket team excepting Australia. No cricket team has won a world cup with so much domination except Australia in recent past. The two standout performers were Kieswetter and Petersen. Petersen being a star performer and a batting stalwart, he was expected to deliver but Kieswetter was a complete novice at least as far as international audience is concerned. To deliver in such a big tournament and in such a big stage (WC Final) speaks volumes on his abilities and promise that he holds in future for England. Another one man who needs special mention is Graham Swann, England have always been known for the pacemen or swing bowlers that you rarely get to see an attacking spinner come from English soil. It is perhaps for first time in my memory that I have seen England unearth a really talented and definitely the most promising spinner that England has ever had. In fact he is arguably the best spinner presently in International circuit on current form (with all due respects to Murali, Vettori and Harbhajan).



England lost only one match in this tournament but that too only due to Duckworth Lewis method otherwise they have been very clinical right from the start. Special mention should also be made of their final match. The way they played it so professionally and not even once letting Australia to claw their way back into the match was very refreshing to see for a neutral fan. This was exactly the need of the hour for a cricket fan to see some healthy competition developing between the rival teams and more importantly to see English team showing more interest towards shorter formats. English teams in past have always had tendency to ignore shorter versions of the game)

All the English fans should be rejoicing this victory and hoping for a similar triumph in the purer version of the game when the Ashes start later this year. I think this is a very good platform for England to defend their Ashes and to win a series in Australia after around 20 odd years. English team have all the firepower in all the departments of the game for winning Ashes series in Aussie soil and perhaps for first time in a very long time would start as favourites for the series. I sign off wishing England All the Best for Ashes.

The ICC as it stands today can be traced back to June 15, 1909 when the all important meeting of the representatives of the then three giants of cricket namely Australia, South Africa and England took place at Lord’s. The meeting was presided over by the President of MCC, the Earl of Chesterfield and the committee was officially called the Imperial Cricket Conference. In the second meeting of the Conference, rules to play Tests were agreed upon. Later in 1926, West Indies, India and New Zealand were also invited to attend the Conference. Subsequently, these three nations were also named as Test playing nations taking the total to six. In 1953, Pakistan too became a Test playing nation. However, in 1961, South Africa was excluded from the Test playing nations due to the practice of apartheid followed by them. 

In 1965, the Conference decided to include several non-Test playing nations and termed them as Associate members. This proposal was put forward by Pakistan. This was when the Imperial Cricket Conference was renamed International Cricket Conference. The rules of ICC were reframed in 1969. 

In 1973, a draft to hold a World Cup in England in 1975 gained approval. 

In 1981, Sri Lanka was invited to join the Conference and admitted as a full member. 

In 1982, for the first time the proposal for an International panel of Umpires for Tests was put forward. 

The year 1984 saw the admission of a third category called the Affiliates into the International Cricket Conference.

The year 1989 saw another name change of the International Cricket Conference. It came to be known as the International Cricket Council. 

In January 1991, the first ICC meet away from England took place in Melbourne. Later that year South Africa was re-admitted into the ICC. 

The year 1992 saw the inclusion of Zimbabwe as a Test playing nation. 

In 1995, technology was in its full bloom and TV replays were used by the umpires whenever and wherever it was possible. 

In 1997, the method of Duckworth-Lewis was first implemented to decide targets in rain-affected matches. After the ICC became an incorporated body with a President, a representative from a member country was chosen to serve the post for a period of three years. This job landed into the lap of Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya. An executive Board comprising of one member each from all the Test playing nations and three members from the Associates was formed and reporting to them were committees spanning over cricket, development, finance and marketing. 

In August 2005, the ICC shifted its base to Dubai. Since then it had conducted all its operations from London. Apart from ruling the game it also deals with matters such as match-fixing, doping, cricket schedules, player conduct, etc. It strives to achieve its true mission of promoting the game of cricket as a global sport.